In mid-June, the Orange County Board of Supervisors must vote to decide whether to continue funding the OC Human Relations Commission for another year to the tune of $300,000. For the past year, there has been a lot of questioning about the usefullness (or lack thereof) of this politically-correct organization under the leadership of Rusty Kennedy, a former union organizer.
In 2001, Kennedy actually flew off to South Africa to represent Orange County at the infamous Durbin Conference on Racism, which focused on Israel. He also found time to help fete none other than Yasser Arafat on the occasion of Arafat receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. (Yes, Virginia, anyone can win the Nobel Peace prize.)
That was also the approximate time that UC-Irvine was starting to be treated to the annual bash Israel, bash America, bash Jews event known as Israel Apartheid Week courtesy of the Muslim Student Union (MSU). That was when we started hearing Muslim imams like Mohammed al-Asi come to campus and proclaim that that "you can take a Jew out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of the Jew."
Where was Rusty Kennedy when that happened?
Or Amir Abdul Malik Ali, a regular speaker, call suicide bombers in Israel, "heroes and martyrs". A regular feature of Ali's speeches at UCI would identify people as "Zionist Jews". For example, Ali has referred to "Rahm Israel Emanuel, Zionist Jew" (in the White House), David Axelrod "Zionist Jew", and once Rupert Murdock, ("Straight-up Zionist Jew").
Where was Rusty Kennedy, year after year when Ali made his scurrilous statements?
As the UCI controversy over anti-Semitism was raging in 2005, here is what Kennedy had to say on the issue.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:wGU3jd_sPQsJ:www.jewishresearch.org/v2/2005/articles/security/3_11_05.htm+rusty+kennedy,+%2B+irvine+11&cd=36&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com
"However, Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the Orange County Human Relations Committee, praised the efforts of UCI administrators to encourage intergroup dialogue and create a good learning environment for all students."
Where was Rusty Kennedy every May during Israeli Apartheid Week, for example, when a Jewish female student had her camera shoved in her face?
In May 2008, a Jewish female photographer, after filming an Ali speech one evening, was followed back to her car and accosted by male MSU students who surrounded her car trying to get her plate number. She called Campus Police who pooh-poohed the incident and took no action even though a civilian witness was present and had students even climb onto her hood trying to get her vin number. Where was Rusty Kennedy when that happened? Answer? He was telling me in no uncertain terms that the university was doing a helluva job. Below is my exchange of e-mails with Kennedy in May 2008:
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2008/05/and-all-i-got-was-this-lousy.html
In fact, where was Rusty Kennedy during the time that the Zionist Organization of America was pushing the the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights to investigate Jewish complaints of harassment at UCI just a few years ago?
He was defending the university and downplaying the problem.
In February 2010, in the wake of the Oren event, in which the Israeli ambassador's speech was disrupted by the MSU, Kennedy rushed to commend UCI Chancellor Michael Drake for the university's handling of the incident.
The wording displeased local Muslim organizations, like CAIR and MPAC (Muslim Public Affairs Council)who questioned whether Kennedy was casting dispersions on the arrested students.
http://www.voiceofoc.org/countywide/county_government/article_88e0dae2-6303-11df-9f76-001cc4c002e0.html
Here is Kennedy's "clarification" letter:
http://www.voiceofoc.org/countywide/county_government/article_88e0dae2-6303-11df-9f76-001cc4c002e0.html
Perish the thought.
Contrast all that with the OCHRC reaction to the Yorba Linda protest (which also involved none other than the aforementioned Imam Amir Abdel Malik Ali), when they held a big hearing on the matter and made their statement without viewing all the evidence and listening fully to those who were involved. Their minds were made up. Then, on May 5, they hold that obscene dinner in Anaheim and give a "community leader" award to Muzammil Siddiqi, past president of the Muslim Brotherhood-connected Islamic Society of North America.
The fact is that the OCHRC under Kennedy has a very selective view of hate crimes and hate speech according to who the victim is and who the perpetrator is. That is hardly what I consider equal rights for all. In truth, once you get past the spring tensions at UCI during "hate week", Orange County doesn't have that much of a problem with people getting along. The last "incident" I recall was a couple of months back when a brawl occurred between a couple of Hispanic bar patrons and a Middle Eastern cab driver in Newport Beach, in which it seems both sides were telling each other to "go back home". Big deal!
Orange County, like every other political entity in California, is faced with a budget crisis. Resources are limited, and tax-payers are under a heavy burden as it is. What better place to start cutting than this useless, feel-good, politically-correct beast that does little more than make pronouncements and hand out "Rusty" awards to questionable figures like Muzammil Siddiqi.
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